Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 28;14(2):102.
doi: 10.3390/toxins14020102.

Prevalence of Fusarium fungi and Deoxynivalenol Levels in Winter Wheat Grain in Different Climatic Regions of Poland

Adam Okorski  1 , Alina Milewska  1 , Agnieszka Pszczółkowska  1 , Krzysztof Karpiesiuk  2 , Wojciech Kozera  2 , Joanna Agnieszka Dąbrowska  1 , Justyna Radwińska  3
Affiliations

Prevalence of Fusarium fungi and Deoxynivalenol Levels in Winter Wheat Grain in Different Climatic Regions of Poland

Adam Okorski et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by fungi of the genus Fusarium is one of the most dangerous crop diseases, which has a wide geographic distribution and causes severe economic losses in the production of major cereal species. The infection leads to the accumulation of mycotoxins in grains, which compromises its suitability for human and animal consumption. The study demonstrated that grain samples from warmer regions of Poland, including Sulejów and Tomaszów Bolesławicki (results differed across years of the study), were colonized mainly by F. graminearum and were most highly contaminated with deoxynivalenol (DON). Samples from Northeastern Poland, i.e., Ruska Wieś, which is located in a cooler region, were characterized by a predominance of Fusarium species typical of the cold climate, i.e., Fusarium poae and Penicillium verrucosum. A Spearman's rank correlation analysis revealed that the severity of grain infection with F. avenaceum/F. tricinctum was affected by the mean daily temperature and high humidity in May, and the corresponding values of the correlation coefficient were determined at R = 0.54 and R = 0.50. Competitive interactions were observed between the F. avenaceum/F. tricinctum genotype and DON-producing F. culmorum and F. graminearum, because the severity of grain infections caused by these pathogens was bound by a negative correlation.

Keywords: F. avenaceum; F. graminearum; climate change; competition; deoxynivalenol; qPCR; synergy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Quantity of F. culmorum DNA (pg) in winter wheat grains grown in different locations in Poland (* climatic regions) (A) during 2015, (B) during 2016 and (C) the average over the years of the study. a, b and c—significant at p ≤ 0.05; A, B and C—significant at p ≤ 0.01.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Quantity of F. graminearum DNA (pg) in winter wheat grains grown in different locations in Poland (* climatic regions) (A) during 2015, (B) during 2016 and (C) the average over the years of the study. A, B and C—significant at p ≤ 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Quantity of DON in winter wheat grains grown in different locations in Poland (* climatic regions) (A) during 2015, (B) during 2016 and (C) the average over the years of the study. a, b and c—significant at p ≤ 0.05; A, B and C—significant at p ≤ 0.01.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Quantity of F. avenaceum/F. tricinctum DNA (pg) in winter wheat grains grown in different locations in Poland (* climatic regions) (A) during 2015, (B) during 2016 and (C) the average over the years of the study. A, B and C—significant at p ≤ 0.01.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Quantity of F. poae DNA (pg) in winter wheat grains grown in different locations in Poland (* climatic regions) (A) during 2015, (B) during 2016 and (C) the average over the years of the study. A, B and C—significant at p ≤ 0.01.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Quantity of P. verrucosum DNA (pg) in winter wheat grains grown in different locations in Poland (* climatic regions) (A) during 2015 (B) during 2016 and (C) the average over the years of the study. A, B and C—significant at p ≤ 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Stuper-Szablewska K., Perkowski J. Contamination of wheat grain with microscopic fungi and their metabolites in Poland in 2006–2009. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2014;21:504–509. doi: 10.5604/12321966.1120591. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vaughan M., Backhouse D., Ponte E.M.D. Climate change impacts on the ecology of Fusarium graminearum species complex and susceptibility of wheat to Fusarium head blight: A review. World Mycotoxin J. 2016;9:685–700. doi: 10.3920/WMJ2016.2053. - DOI
    1. Vujanovic V., Mavragani D., Hamel C. Fungal communities associated with durum wheat production system: A characterization by growth stage, plant organ and preceding crop. Crop Prot. 2012;37:26–34. doi: 10.1016/j.cropro.2012.02.006. - DOI
    1. Pastuszak J., Szczerba A., Dziurka M., Hornyák M., Kope’c P., Szklarczyk M., Płazek A. Physiological and Biochemical Response to Fusarium culmorum Infection in Three Durum Wheat Genotypes at Seedling and Full Anthesis Stage. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021;22:7433. doi: 10.3390/ijms22147433. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Obanor F., Chakraborty S. Aetiology and toxigenicity of Fusarium graminearum and F. pseudograminearum causing crown rot and head blight in Australia under natural and artificial infection. Plant Pathol. 2014;63:1218–1229. doi: 10.1111/ppa.12200. - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources